‘Unfairly neglected’ is a bit of a cliché and pretty subjective but I do think it could describe a mass of great music that a lot of us (us Anglos at least) are missing out on… music from South America. Before I put this episode together I only knew about half the pieces I am going to play. The rest are as new for me as I suspect they might be for you. Which is, I hope, more of a positive than a negative. I don’t think I can even get away with describing this episode as ‘scratching the surface’… not just because it seems to be ‘cliché day’ here at Mending Wall Studios… but because an hour and a bit is not a lot of time for the music of an entire continent. Still, it’s perhaps worth starting somewhere. Please enjoy music from… Astor Piazzola, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Osvaldo Golijov, Alberto Ginastera and Camargo Guarnieri.

The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the demon of insomnia hits the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whose sleep has been troubled. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This week… Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and conducted by Georg Tintner.

I get it that for some people opera is just noise that they are not ever going to enjoy but if there are listeners out there with a bit of curiousity and an inquiring mind… and that is how I would describe anyone listening to this podcast… then I urge you to have a listen to this episode. Why? Well because if you enjoy any music with singing… then you can enjoy opera. And the selection I have made for this episode is based on one simple criteria… pure pleasure. I think you might enjoy ten pieces of opera… from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Georg Friedrich Handel, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppi Verdi, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini and John Adams.

The second of a two episode special. His music uniquely blended Western European compositional techniques with distinctly Russian melodic and harmonic elements, creating a style that was both internationally appealing and unmistakably Russian. Remarkably successful in his own lifetime and responsible for so much music that remains popular to this day he is still perhaps not quite given his due. In these two episodes Sleeping Beauties, Memories of Beloved Places, Teasing Peasants, Violins, Pianos and Cannons argue his case.

The first of a two episode special. His music uniquely blended Western European compositional techniques with distinctly Russian melodic and harmonic elements, creating a style that was both internationally appealing and unmistakably Russian. Remarkably successful in his own lifetime and responsible for so much music that remains popular to this day he is still perhaps not quite given his due. In these two episodes Sleeping Beauties, Memories of Beloved Places, Teasing Peasants, Violins, Pianos and Cannons argue his case.

Why New York? Well, mainly because I love the city… and I’m here. I’m recording this episode in a hotel room on West 56th Street in Manhattan around the corner from Carnegie Hall and up the road from The Museum of Modern Art… which is incidentally a very popular place to make TikTok videos. I think there might still be some paintings there… but it was hard to tell today. More importantly… the music in this episode is from Steve Reich, Charles Ives, Jessie Montgomery, Leonard Bernstein, Phillip Glass and George Gershwin.

I’m going to start with a question. If one thinks of musical instruments as tools… as things humans create to perform tasks… other than the violin, is there any other tool you can think of used in an area of incredibly complex human endeavour where the design and construction of it reached its zenith over three hundred years ago and has not been improved upon since? Whilst you ponder that, enjoy music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josef Haydn, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Johann Sebastain Bach, Samuel Barber, Ross Edwards & Johann Joseph Vilsmayr in this episode of Classical For Everyone.

The name comes from the night of the week when for some of us, the demon of insomnia hits the hardest… and because my preferred antidote is getting lost in some music. Of course this series is for everyone… but it is perhaps intended a little more for those of you whom distractions and apprehensions… racing imaginations and freewheeling thoughts hold suspended at the edge of sleep. The idea of the special is to play just one piece, uninterrupted and in its entirety… with a few minutes of background explained at the end of the episode. This week… Gustav Mahler’s 1st Symphony.

Brian Eno’s 1979 LP ‘Music For Airports’ launched the genre of ‘Ambient Music’… an alternative to the dreadful ‘muzak’ inflicted on humans in most public spaces… music that reduced stress rather than added to it… music for contemplation that rewarded attention but did not require it. This episode takes that idea and rummages around classical music to see if there are works that might do the same… with thanks to Gavin Bryars, Erik Satie, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Phillip Glass, Richard Wagner, John Adams, Arvo Pärt and Gabriel Fauré.

Instances where composers have hidden something in their works… sometimes for the sheer ingeniousness of being able to do it… sometimes to send a secret message to someone… sometime to create a puzzle for generations to come… sometimes to create a tortured ambiguity of meaning. The music is from a pretty eclectic mix… Johann Sebastain Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Alban Berg, Dmitri Shostakovich and Edward Elgar. Lots of Secrets.